Azure Lore -- A Guide To AoE Burning On Blue Mage

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Sub Jobs
III. What You Will Need
IV. Atma
V. Preparing for the Burn
VI. The Burn
VII. Lights
VIII. Conclusion


I. Introduction
Hello,

I see countless BLUs wondering how to farm for time, key items, other things within Abyssea at the astounding rates of others. There are so many, in fact, that I feel compelled to write a guide expressing how exactly to perform this act. You may AoE burn alone or with others, having a healer helps but is absolutely not necessary if you have the gear and atma required. Usually, someone who is at the baseline of Blue Mage equipment will need outside help from a White or Red Mage.


II. Sub Jobs
Sub jobs are a matter of preference and what you'd be doing later on in the night. Essentially, /NIN offers nothing but a little bit of INT and /WAR offers absolutely nothing extra for a Whisker burn. /RDM, however, lends a variety of tools to your arsenal. Phalanx, Stoneskin and Aquaveil are incredibly useful tools, causing most monsters to hit for 0-20 damage each. Aquaveil protects you from being interrupted, which is also very useful. Again, the choice is yours based on what you're doing before/after your Whisker Burn, however /RDM is the superior sub job for this specific activity.


III. What You Will Need
Things you will need to make this as efficient as possible:
Blue Mage
STR gearINT gearINT+DEX gearPDT- gearEvasion gearMovement speed+ gear
Atma of the Lion/Atma of the Blinding Horn/Atma of the Smoldering Sky/Atma of the Lone WolfAtma of the Minikin Monstrosity/Atma of the Beyond/Atma of the Baying Moon/Atma of the Ultimate/Atma of Hell's Guiardian/Atma of the Razed Ruin

*On PDT vs. Evasion: If you have an evasion set, it will likely be more effective than a PDT set for burning. Your monsters should never be above DC, for any extended period of time anyway, and thus evasion will almost always be high enough to outpace PDT.


IV. Atma
Atma choices are rarely situational. The best set for most monsters would be (1)Lion + Hell's Guardian + Ultimate or (2)Lion + Blinding Horn + Ultimate. For bombs or other lightning resistant monsters, you would want to switch Lion and Blinding Horn for Smoldering Sky and Lone Wolf. Generally speaking, if you do not have one or either of the lightning damage+ atmas, magic attack bonus atmas make for the best substitute; Atma of the Razed Ruin is also an acceptable atma to use as the 50 dexterity bonus that it grants adds plenty to your Charged Whisker when used in conjunction with Burst Affinity, which you should always have available on pulls anyways.


V.Preparing For The Burn
Now for the burn itself, it's a rather simple procedure. Based on zone and what you're looking to farm, the first thing you will want to do is farm up some Azure, Pearlescent and/or Amber. If you only want time and cruor, Azure+Pearlescent is the way to go, but if you want some augmented items, key items or empyrean foot armor/synthesis materials, then you'll want some Amber as well. The exact values of Amber depend on what item you're going for. Generally, key items only drop from upper tier large sized gold chests, high quality augmented items have an elevated chance of appearing in large sized gold chests, and everything else has a chance to appear inside of the smaller ones. If you're targeting Empyrean feet, then you'll want to limit your amber to around 70~80 at most. Further within this guide are a series of general guidelines of what to farm lights on based on zone.

Once you have lights, you get to the crux of the situation. You'll want to locate a suitable type of monster to pull multiples of and AoE down using specific spells for the greatest effect. Generally you'll want to find monsters that aggro and link, but sometimes this is not possible. As long as they do one or the other, you will do fine. You will also want to make sure that these monsters do not cast magic, as it will make the pulls more difficult and sometimes more dangerous. Depending on whether or not other people have been killing the monsters that you're targeting, (be respectful, don't pull over people if they are still there), then you may have to delevel them. I don't know how it works exactly, but after a couple of pulls the monsters will go from higher levels to Decent Challenge/Easy Prey. Keep pulls small until then.

You should also make sure you have the proper spells set for the job, the best spell set I've found includes:

Whirl of Rage
Benthic Typhoon
Charged Whisker
Thermal Pulse
Dream Flower
Sound Blast*
Memento Mori**
Cocoon
Occultation
Magic Fruit
Actinic Burst

*Only necessary if you are not subbing RDM.
**Same as above, however this one provides a slight stat bonus as well at the cost of more set points.

With the rest of your points being allocated to stats or other enhancing spells of your choosing. Some may choose to put in more AoE spells such as Body Slam, Battle Dance and Grand Slam, however these are absolutely unnecessary, as most of the time monsters will die from the initial Charged Whisker, and if not a quick Whirl of Rage and/or Benthic Typhoon will finish them off.


VI. The Burn
The method for taking down your marks will vary slightly based on monster type, but for 95% of monsters, the cycle should look like this:

Pre-pull: Use your Ascetic's Drink and proceed to cast cocoon and occultation, then if you're subbing RDM, cast Phalanx, Stoneskin and Aquaveil as well. Put on PDT/Evasion gear as well as movement speed and prepare to pull.

Pull: Based on monster, you will have to do different things to pull. If you're new to AoE burning or the monster is particularly fierce, I would suggest keeping pulls down to 5-10. If you're an advanced whisker burner, or the monster is not very threatening, 15-20 monsters should be possible. If you have support, you may always try to pull more than 10. If the monsters aggro to sound, then it's easy to pull a large group: just run around in PDT/evasion gear and movement speed, gathering up however many monsters you feel comfortable with, then return to a safe spot to kill them. If they aggro sight, you can still do this, however it will require more work on your part. Magic aggro monsters are easier than either to get en masse, just start casting a spell like Occultation or Memento Mori in the middle of them and you'll have yourself a few at a time. When pulling, it's always important to make sure you aren't running too far ahead of the monsters or they will deaggro. Try to find the sweet spot in between or let them catch up every now and then.

The Burn: Now for the fun part. There are two ways to do this, starting with the beginner friendly variety.

(1) Start by using Chain Affinity and Efflux, and follow that up with Whirl of Rage. Immediately use Dream Flower to sleep the hoard, (you may need to cast Actinic Burst first if you do not have Aquaveil up), and heal up any damage you have taken. Continue by using Burst Affinity followed by a Charged Whisker or a Thermal Pulse depending on the monster, (generally only bombs will require Thermal Pulse due to their resistance of other elements). If this does not kill every monster in the group, (probably due to lack of atma or gear), then Whirl of Rage or Benthic Typhoon, followed by another Dream Flower and either Thermal Pulse or Charged Whisker if required. It will take a pull or two before you know if you can take monsters out in one-two shots or not, so try smaller numbers at first. If you're gear is in the mid-to-high range, then you're likely capable of the second option.

(2) If you are not subbing RDM, start the burn with Actinic Burst followed by a Dream Flower. Following that, use Burst Affinity and cast Charged Whisker. Most, if not all, of the monsters in the pull should now be dead. A few stragglers can and will persist, so clean them up with a Chain Affinity + Efflux Whirl of Rage.

If you follow those basic guidelines, you should encounter no issues.


VII. Lights
Now, every zone will have different monsters that are preferable over others for AoE burning as well as different methods of acquiring lights, (although this is mostly based on which expansion that the zone derives from). Below are the monsters and methods that I have had experience with and found easiest to manage. Feel free to deviate from this and try your own types of monsters if you want to experiment.


Abyssea - La Theine
Visions of Abyssea zones are a little more difficult to do this in, as the methods of farming lights are a bit more time intensive than in Heroes or Scars. Essentially, you'll want to buy a Clear Demilune Abyssite from the Cruor Prospector NPC (300 Cruor). VNMs, when killed with a melee attack, will supply you with pearlescent light 100% of the time. Any NM works in this regard, so if you're having trouble finding VNMs you can always pop any other easy T1 NM. Ephemerals Clionids supply enhanced Azure light at seemingly random intervals of 16, 32, 64 and 128 lights per kill. They can be tricky to find sometimes as in the Visions zones, Ephemeral mobs can be somewhat difficult to track down. Your general plan of attack should be to kill multiple VNMs/NMs and Clionids until you obtain top tier blue chests, (Intense Soothing Light, familiar stone fragment, princely amount of cruor, etc.), and gold chests if you're after those.

Generally, T1 VNMs in La Theine are found around the rabbits and the tigers in large quantities, though they can go as far as the corpselights.

Once you have your lights to an acceptable level, you will want to find a suitable type of monster to pull for AoE burning. In La Theine, you can try frogs, worms, birds, or puks for the easiest time. Frogs are on the top of the list with birds and puks in second, although puks can be difficult to pull due to them being somewhat spread out. Worms should be used as a last resort as you can not rely on pulling them, you must hope for them to clump together naturally and you must also contend with avoiding the Notorious Monster.

Abyssea - Tahrongi
T1 VNMs in Tahrongi tend to be found most often East of Conflux 1 in the Clionids and Northwest of Conflux 2 in the Hecteye and Scorpions. Take caution if you go for the ones near the Clionids as a Notorious Monster that detects by low HP and is invisible until it aggros wanders amongst them.

Tahrongi doesn't have many choices, in fact, the only good choice here would be the scorpions as they are the only decent aggroing and linking monsters in the zone that are easy to manage. Sandworms and Manticores may work, in theory, but I have never tried these as sandworms are fairly spread out and manticores aggro to sight and are not very numerous. Gnats may also be eligible, but contending with the Notorious Monster may make it hazardous. Corpselights follow the same line, except instead of a notorious monster, you have to deal with their frequent magic usage.

Coeurl and bats work as an alternative as well. Thanks to Nightfyre and Raenryong for the suggestions.

Gnats are also a good choice. Thanks to Helel for the suggestion.

Abyssea - Konschtat
T1 VNMs in Konschtat are often found near the leeches and in the empty places between confluxes 4, 5 and 7.

Konschtat is open to more options than Tahrongi, thankfully. Leeches and Tonberries are tried and true families, and slugs may also work. In a pinch, corpselights are also applicable choices, however their frequent casting and ability to bind and stun you while pulling make them unattractive.

Abyssea - Misareaux
For Scars zones, farming for lights becomes a lot easier. Killing Ephemeral Murexes becomes a valid tactic as they are not nearly as rare as in the Visions zones and spawn in very predictable locations. There is one ephemeral in every monster family. T1 VNMs are still useful for Pearlescent light, however.

T1 VNMs in Misareaux are frequently found around the bomb clusters and the orobons/crabs.

The king of all monsters in Misareaux is the mighty frog. Unfortunately, finding these uncontested will be nearly impossible. Between other AoE burners or people camping the frog NM for their empyrean weapon triggers, they are often overcrowded and impossible to pull in frequency or at a decent level. The best alternative would be detectors, as they're easy to pull and not incredibly strong. Alternatives also exist in the crabs, orobons and flies, although flies can be hazardous due to the Notorious Monster and orobons may be too high of a level due to farming for the orobon notorious monster's pop item.

Apkallu are also a good choice. Thanks to Helel for the suggestion.

Abyssea - Attowha
Note that in Attowha, Ephemeral monsters don't appear to give enhanced lights.

T1 VNMs in Attowha can be a pain to track. I find them most often within the Coeruls and Cockatrice, so I would start there.

As for burn monsters, chigoes are the best in the zone. They're weak and numerous, however they are also highly contested. The Notorious Monster may also complicate things if it isn't being farmed. Mandragoras are a good alternative, as are wamouracampa, however the campa move very slowly which can be annoying on pulls. Scorpions and eruca also make decent candidates.

Abyssea - Vunkerl
T1 VNMs in Vunkerl can be found with frequency around the rabbits and puks, as well as around the bats.

Most of the time I try to do the djinns in this zone. They're easy to pull and aren't very strong. Unlike normal bombs, they do not resist Charged Whisker. In the event that they're taken, however, Vunkerl does not lend very many alternatives. Puks can work, as can spiders. As a last resort, corpselights are also viable but present the same issues as those in Konschtat and Tahrongi.

Tauri are also a good choice. Thanks to Helel for the suggestion.

Abyssea - Uleguerand
The Heroes zones are the easiest to farm lights in -- in fact, most of the time, you don't even have to. Due to morale buffs in these zones, you get a bonus to your lights just by obtaining visitant status. Normally I just pull like I would if I had already farmed lights and cap azure in a couple of rounds. Pearlescent will be capped through red chests soon after beginning as well, but doing a couple of NMs or just melee killing some mobs works too. For these reasons, as well as the fact that Elementals are incredibly annoying, I will not bother outlining T1 VNMs in these zones.

For burn mobs, I would suggest snolls as being the easiest to pull and to deal with. Even if you get the elemental in their ranks, thermal pulse and charged whisker will easily deal with it just like the snolls themselves. Detectors present a wonderful alternative, and if both of those are occupied then so do gears.

Abyssea - Altep
Altep's creme de la creme would be the mandragoras. They're very easy to pull and are incredibly weak. Two problems do exist, however: one, they are often contested and two, the Notorious Monster cactuar that spawns amongst them can be an annoyance. It isn't difficult to avoid, just make sure you're paying attention when pulling. Alternatives are all relatively unattractive, however often they are the only option. Detectors work, however the two elementals that roam within them may be annoying. You seldom have to worry about the chariot being alive long enough for you to have to worry about it, but do take caution. Puks are very spread out, but otherwise they work well enough. You may not want to pull many if you're alone just because of their distribution and how you'll be taking a bit of damage on the pulls. Bombs also work, but they tend to hit rather hard and pulling too many is not preferable.

Abyssea - Grauberg
Grauberg is very similar to Uleguerand in the types of monsters that work well. Djinns and Detectors are on the top of the list, and are often uncontested. In the event that they are, however, you will have to deal with much less suitable conditions. Goblins work, however they tend to be very spread out and deaggro easily. Puks are acceptable, but the Notorious Monster can complicate things.


VIII. Conclusion
That covers every zone, and pretty much wraps up this guide. Comments, suggestions and other such responses are welcome below or via PM. Additional options for monster types to farm are welcome and will be added if they are acceptable. Aside from that, thanks for reading, and I hope this helps those of you that are new to AoE burning on Blue Mage.